CBSE students set for AI leap with courses from Class I

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) students will soon get to learn Artificial Intelligence (AI) right from the Class I, as the board gears up to make them future-ready.

Anita Karwal, CBSE chairperson, on Thursday announced the board’s decision to integrate AI from Class I to XII at a function in New Delhi.

At the awards function, HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Minister of State for HRD Sanjay Dhotre released a manual prepared by the board in consultation with experts.

“We have prepared this manual for integration of AI in school education through various interesting activities for classes I to XII. We will provide training (to the teachers) for this,” the CBSE chairperson said.

The CBSE has already introduced AI as a skill subject for classes VIII and above from this year.

“The CBSE is the only board in India and perhaps in the world which has introduced AI as a skill subject in schools. The curriculum of this subject has been prepared with the help of Intel. We went for it as we realised the significance of AI for the present and the future,” the CBSE chairperson said.

Though the chairperson did not share any further details on how AI will be integrated in school education, a sub-committee of the central advisory board on education (CABE) in its report to the HRD ministry in 2012 had recommended that computer literacy should not be introduced at the primary stage as it will affect children’s growth.

“It is not uncommon in well-equipped schools to find very young children whose motor skills and hand-eye coordination are inadequately developed staring at computer screens and wielding the keyboard or mouse,” the panel had noted in its report, suggesting that the ministry should consider introducing computer literacy in upper primary classes.

Award for Karnataka teacher

From Karnataka, Anasuya Appanna, a physical education teacher at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) in Bengaluru Urban, received the CBSE national teachers award for grooming students in various sports and games for the past 31 years.